2019年经济学人 一周要闻 天然气价格下跌 沙特阿美股价飙升 软银出售Wag股份

 

The world this week

本周要闻

Business

商业

The prospect¹ of Congress approving the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement improved, after Democrats² reached a deal with the White House to revise the trade deal. The reworked USMCA weakens intellectual-property protections for the drugs industry, which Democrats insist will lead to lower health-care costs, and beefs up workers’ rights, putting more onus³ on employers to enforce labour standards. The USMCA will eventually replace NAFTA.

在民主党与白宫就修改贸易协定达成一致后，国会批准《美国-墨西哥-加拿大协定》(USMCA)的前景有所改善。修改后的《美墨加协定》削弱了对药品行业的知识产权保护，民主党坚持认为这会降低医疗保健成本，增强工人的权利，让雇主有更多的责任强制执行劳工标准。《美墨加协定》最终将取代《北美自由贸易协定》。

Still licking its wounds from its disastrous⁴ investment in WeWork, SoftBank was reportedly selling its 50% stake in Wag, a service that connects dog owners with people who will walk their pooch for them. Wag has struggled to compete against Rover, a rival. It has also been hounded by bad publicity⁵ about lost or dead dogs under its care.

报道称，软银仍在舔舐其在WeWork的灾难性投资带来的创伤，它正在出售Wag的50%股份。Wag是一项将狗主人与愿意代替其遛狗的人联系起来的服务。Wag一直在与对手Rover展开竞争。因遛狗员失误导致狗狗丢失或死亡的事故，也导致该公司声誉受损。

A judge on the New York state Supreme⁶ Court cleared Exxon Mobil of fraud related to its accounting⁷ for climate-change regulations. New York’s attorney-general had sought to show that the oil company committed fraud by using two methods to estimate costs posed by possible climate policies. The ruling lowers the likelihood of similar litigation in other states.

纽约州最高法院的一名法官澄清了埃克森美孚公司在气候变化法规会计方面的欺诈行为。纽约总检察长曾试图证明，这家石油公司利用两种方法来估算可能的气候政策造成的成本，从而犯下了欺诈罪。这一裁决降低了其他州发生类似诉讼的可能性。

Chevron⁸ said it would record impairments of more than $10bn in its fourth quarter. More than half of the write-down comes from shale⁹ assets in the Appalachian region. An abundance of shale gas has depressed¹⁰ prices, which are at their lowest in 20 years.

雪佛龙表示，第四季度将减记资产逾100亿美元。减记资产中，超过一半的来自阿巴拉契亚地区的页岩资产。丰富的页岩气压低了天然气价格，目前天然气价格处于20年来的最低水平。

America’s boundless¹¹ production in shale energy has also kept down oil prices. In an agreement by which they hope to shore up prices, opec and Russia agreed to cut output by another 500,000 barrels a day, extending a strategy started in 2016. Saudi Arabia wanted deeper reductions, which were resisted by Russia.

美国在页岩能源领域的丰富产量也压低了石油价格。在一项旨在提振油价的协议中，欧佩克和俄罗斯同意将日产量再削减50万桶，延续了始于2016年的一项战略。沙特希望进一步削减产量，但遭到俄罗斯的抵制。

Saudi Aramco’s share price surged when it began trading on the Riyadh stock exchange. Although just 1.5% of the state-controlled oil company’s shares were sold, it raised $25.6bn in its IPO, the most ever. Aramco is now the world’s most valuable publicly listed company, hitting $2trn on December 12th. That is the value that Muhammad bin¹² Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, has decreed Aramco is worth, despite scepticism from global investors¹³. Tranches of the shares are held by the Saudi elite¹⁴, who have reportedly been pressed to trade the stock in order to reach the target.

沙特阿美(Saudi Aramco)在利雅得证券交易所上市交易时，股价飙升。尽管这家国有石油公司仅出售了1.5%的股份，但其IPO融资256亿美元，创下历史最高纪录。沙特阿美如今是世界上最有价值的上市公司，12月12日达到2万亿美元。尽管全球投资者对此持怀疑态度，但这正是沙特事实上的领导人穆罕默德·本·萨勒曼宣称的沙特阿美的估值。部分股份由沙特精英持有，据报道，为了达到目标，他们被迫进行股票交易。

1 prospect   

n.前景，前途；景色，视野

参考例句：

• This state of things holds out a cheerful prospect.事态呈现出可喜的前景。
• The prospect became more evident.前景变得更加明朗了。

2 democrats   

n.民主主义者，民主人士( democrat的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The Democrats held a pep rally on Capitol Hill yesterday. 民主党昨天在国会山召开了竞选誓师大会。
• The democrats organize a filibuster in the senate. 民主党党员组织了阻挠议事。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 onus   

n.负担；责任

参考例句：

• The onus is on government departments to show cause why information cannot bedisclosed.政府部门有责任说明不能把信息公开的理由。
• The onus of proof lies with you.你有责任提供证据。

4 disastrous   

adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的

参考例句：

• The heavy rainstorm caused a disastrous flood.暴雨成灾。
• Her investment had disastrous consequences.She lost everything she owned.她的投资结果很惨，血本无归。

5 publicity   

n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告

参考例句：

• The singer star's marriage got a lot of publicity.这位歌星的婚事引起了公众的关注。
• He dismissed the event as just a publicity gimmick.他不理会这件事，只当它是一种宣传手法。

6 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

7 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。

8 chevron   

n.V形臂章；V形图案

参考例句：

• He wore shoulderstrap rank slides with sergeant's chevrons.他佩戴标示级别的肩章，上面有中士的V形标志。
• The chevron or arrow road sign indicates a sharp bend to the left or right.V形或箭头路标表示有向左或向右的急转弯。

9 shale   

n.页岩，泥板岩

参考例句：

• We can extract oil from shale.我们可以从页岩中提取石油。
• Most of the rock in this mountain is shale.这座山上大部分的岩石都是页岩。

10 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。

11 boundless   

adj.无限的；无边无际的；巨大的

参考例句：

• The boundless woods were sleeping in the deep repose of nature.无边无际的森林在大自然静寂的怀抱中酣睡着。
• His gratitude and devotion to the Party was boundless.他对党无限感激、无限忠诚。

12 bin   

n.箱柜；vt.放入箱内；[计算机] DOS文件名:二进制目标文件

参考例句：

• He emptied several bags of rice into a bin.他把几袋米倒进大箱里。
• He threw the empty bottles in the bin.他把空瓶子扔进垃圾箱。

13 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

14 elite   

n.精英阶层；实力集团；adj.杰出的，卓越的

参考例句：

• The power elite inside the government is controlling foreign policy.政府内部的一群握有实权的精英控制着对外政策。
• We have a political elite in this country.我们国家有一群政治精英。